Full set of rising attendances confirms the enduring appeal of the summer showpiece with its ability to grow and evolve
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here were a host of memorable performances and races over the course of Royal Ascot, from Field Of Gold’s electrifying surge away from his field in the St James’s Palace Stakes to the high-speed duel to the line between Lazzat and Japan’s Satono Reve in the Jubilee on Saturday but, in one sense at least, the race emblematic of an almost flawless five days in the sun was the Queen Alexandra Stakes, the quirky but traditional closing event.
The race itself was not overly dramatic, but then, a two and three-quarter mile race for an assortment of second-tier stayers and hurdlers rarely is. Yet the noise that swept through the stands as Ryan Moore sent Sober, the 4-5 favourite, into a clear lead two furlongs out was as loud and excited as it had been for the closing stages of the Group One sprint two and a half hours earlier.
Saturday’s crowd of 71,073 was a 2.6% rise on last year, completing a full set of rising attendance across the five days for the second year in a row. The total attendance of just over 285,000 was just below 5% above last year’s figure, and the fact that all but a handful of the final day crowd were still there for the Queen Alexandra tells its own story. While other showpiece venues like Cheltenham and Epsom are struggling to maintain attendances at their main events, Royal Ascot’s racegoers just can’t get enough of it.
